Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Real Durwan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Truth and Memory
Materialism, Status, and Contentment
Social Division and Alienation
Summary
Analysis
Boori Ma, “sweeper of the stairwell,” wakes up after another sleepless and uncomfortable night. After shaking the mites out of her quilts, she gets to work sweeping the stairs of her apartment building. At age 64, Boori Ma looks “almost as narrow from the front as she did from the side” from many years of hard living. Her voice is the only “three-dimensional” part of her—it’s “brittle with sorrows, as tarts as curds, and shrill enough to grate meat from a coconut.” Today, her knee is swelling from the humidity of monsoon season, which makes her work that much more difficult.
Opening with the descriptor “sweeper of the stairwell,” immediately reduces Boori Ma to one identity and occupation. And although her physical description is brief and rushed, the description of her voice is powerful. After all, it is her voice that becomes her main identity as she recounts her past day after day. The subtle details of her voice, of sorrow and sharpness, introduce her as a complex, “three-dimensional” character who exists beyond physical appearance and station, even though society tries to pin her down as just one thing.
Themes
Boori Ma is a Bengali woman, a refugee who crossed the border during Partition years ago for Calcutta. As she cleans, she recounts what her life was like prior to Partition. She tells anyone who will listen that she had a husband and four daughters—though the “turmoil” separated them all from each other—as well as a comfortable two-story home, a wardrobe (almari) fashioned from rosewood, and several “coffer boxes, whose skeleton keys she still [wears], along with her life savings, tied to the free end of her sari.”
The lavishness that Boori Ma recounts when talking about her past life begins to raise the question of whether or not she’s telling the truth and if her memory can be trusted. The skeleton keys make the first appearance here, as she carries them around as a constant reminder of her past. The mention of Boori Ma’s skeleton keys and life savings fastened to the end of her sari also serves as a moment of foreshadowing, as both will feature importantly in the plot near the end of the story.
Themes
Boori Ma explains that she once lived a life of luxury—her yard was overflowing with guavas, dates, and blooming hibiscus blossoms. Although she crossed the border with “just two bracelets on [her] wrist,” there once was a time where her “feet touched nothing but marble.” She ends her proclamation by flippantly saying, “Believe me, don’t believe me, such comforts you cannot even dream them.” Although no one is completely sure if Boori Ma’s past life really was as luxurious as she claims—after all, she seems to double the size of her estate each time she talks about it—they know at least one thing is true about her: she is definitely a refugee, as her accent reveals as much.
Boori Ma’s recitation of “Believe me, don’t believe me” crops up several times throughout the story in various forms. Here, it suggests that she doesn’t care if the residents believe the granular details of her memories, like the size of her estate. What she really seems to be trying to communicate is the notion that she’s lost a lot in her life in recent years. Meanwhile, the detail about Boori Ma’s accent positions her as the Other, as she’s set apart from the other residents.
Themes
The details of Boori Ma’s recitations change daily. On some days, she insists that she crossed the East Bengal border on the back of a truck, nestled between sacks of hemp. On other days, though, she is adamant that she arrived in Calcutta on a bullock cart. Because of this, the children sometimes tease Boori Ma about the truth of her tales. When they ask her how she really came to Calcutta—on a truck or on a cart—she dismisses them breezily, asking, “Why demand specifics? […] Believe me, don’t believe me.” Boori Ma “garbled facts. She contradicted herself. She embellished almost everything.” Despite this, her stories are so compelling “that it was not so easy to dismiss her.”
The narrator admits that not everything Boori Ma says is true. However, the facts are “garbled,” not entirely erased, and the details are “embellished,” not changed on a fundamental level. The implication is that foundation of her stories is solid. The residents at this point appear to agree, acknowledging that Boori Ma and her stories can’t be entirely “dismiss[ed]” as false.
Themes
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Mr. Dalal, one of the residents, wonders how a landowner could go from a life of luxury to a sad existence sweeping the stairs. Mr. Dalal works in the pluming district for a wholesale distributor that sells tubes and pipes. Mr. Chatterjee, another resident, admits that Boori Ma’s “mouth is full of ashes” but that her stories are harmless. She is, in his opinion, “a victim of changing times.” The residents value his opinion highly, even though he hasn’t left his apartment or even read a newspaper since Independence.
Mr. Chatterjee’s qualifications for resident intellectual are thin and even ridiculed here. However, his verdict that her stories aren’t malicious or problematic is significant—later in the story, he will again proclaim that her “mouth is full of ashes,” but the implication will be much different.
Themes
Some of the residents decide that Boori Ma must have once worked for a wealthy zamindar, and that’s why she embellishs her past so dramatically. However, her stories “hurt no one,” and everyone agrees that she is extremely entertaining. In exchange for sleeping on the floor of the building, Boori Ma keeps the place extremely clean. Plus, the residents generally appreciate Boori Ma standing between their building and the rest of the neighborhood.
A zamindar is a wealthy landowner who leases out parcels of their land. Thus, the residents decide that Boori Ma was probably not a landowner herself—this is too implausible to them—but that she lived and worked as a tenant farmer on land that she and her family leased from a zamindar. Once again, though, it doesn’t really matter to the residents whether or not her stories are true because they “hurt no one,” and she’s good at her job as a durwan.
Themes
The only item of worth in the entire building is Mrs. Misra’s private telephone, but the residents are nonetheless glad to have Boori Ma standing guard. Plus, she’s able to call a rickshaw at impressive speed, she’s discerning about which vendors she lets in, and she scares away shady characters with just a few thumps of her broom. In many ways, she is a lot like a “real durwan,” despite the fact that durwans are always men, not women. Boori Ma takes her duties seriously, just as if she were the doorkeeper at a fancy building in Jodhpur Park.
The fact that Mrs. Misra’s telephone is the only valuable in the whole building suggests that the residents are not well off, so Boori Ma’s job as an unofficial durwan seems suitable for such an establishment. The idea that men, not women, are usually durwans also brings gender to the forefront of the story. As she was previously set apart as the Other because of her accent, now she is positioned as different because of her gender.
Themes
On this particular day, Boori Ma feels as if she's been bitten by mites and takes her quilts to the roof to air. There, she runs into Mrs. Dalal, a resident who “[has] a soft spot for Boori Ma.” Boori Ma suggests that the mites must have wings, and that’s why she can’t see them in her bedding. After noting Boori Ma’s cheap, dirty, and outdated sari, Mrs. Dalal reassures Boori Ma that there are no bite marks on her skin, assuring her, “you are imagining things.” She suggests that Boori Ma must have a simple case of prickly heat.
Once again, Boori Ma appears unreliable, insisting she has mite bites, when Mrs. Dalal sees no tangible evidence. It fits with Boori Ma’s insistent story-telling about her past because the foundation of the story is true (that she feels pain on her skin), while the surrounding details are false (that the pain specifically comes from invisible, winged mites).
Themes
Boori Ma retorts that it is absolutely not prickly heat. She explains, “I used to keep a clean bed. Out linens were muslin. Believe me, don’t believe me, our mosquito nets were as soft as silk. Such comforts, you cannot even dream them.” Mrs. Dalal agrees that she “cannot dream them,” sighing, “I live in two broken rooms, married to a man who sells toilet parts.” Examining Boori Ma’s ragged quilts, Mrs. Dalal promises to talk to Mr. Dalal about getting the woman new bedding.
Boori Ma and Mrs. Dalal’s current positions are ones of resident and servant, and yet this moment demonstrates how Boori Ma’s past widens the gulf between them. Mrs. Dalal sighs in defeat that she will never know luxury because of her husband’s low-level job. As a woman, she has no ability to change their position and even must ask her husband in order to do something as seemingly minor as getting Boori Ma new quilts. This passage also establishes Mrs. Dalal as Boori Ma’s ally, as she cares enough for Boori Ma to get new bedding for her, despite the fact that Mrs. Dalal’s own life is difficult and her finances are implied to be tight.
Themes
Mrs. Dalal says she’ll provide Boori Ma with powder for prickly heat, but Boori Ma is adamant that it’s mites, not the heat, that’s causing her so much discomfort: “Boori Ma preferred to think that what […] what burned like peppers across her thinning scalp and skin, was of a less mundane origin.”
The verb “preferred” here implies that Boori Ma makes her own version of the truth—she “prefer[s]” to tie the discomfort to mites rather than the heat, just as she “prefer[s]” her version of her life that she recounts to the other residents.
Themes
After she beats her quilts, Boori Ma returns to work. Shortly after, the monsoon rain begins, practically dissolving her quilts on the roof. As she cleans, she is comforted by her conversation with Mrs. Dalal. After a brief afternoon nap on a bed of newspaper, Boori Ma awakens and double checks that her life savings are still attached to her sari.
The loss of Boori Ma’s quilts to nature is pitiful, as she owns very few items. The loss of her quilts means that she will sleep even less than before, as she now must resort to using newspaper. Her lifesavings reappear in the story once again, foreshadowing the events to come.
Themes
Boori Ma often enjoys some time with the neighbors in the afternoon, as is her plan this day. She is welcome in their homes; they sometimes offer her tea, and she plays with the children. However, because she understands that she cannot fully enter their homes and enjoy their hospitality, “she crouched, instead, in doorways and hallways, and observed gestures and manners in the same way a person tends to watch traffic in a foreign city.” By this point in the day, she’s less comfortable and “beginning to want some prickly heat powder after all.”
The visits with the neighbors highlight the fact that Boori Ma is respected in the building. However, she knows she can’t socialize with them as an equal, as the social, economic, regional gap between them is too large. She may be offered a cup of tea, but she is forced by societal expectations to “crouch.” She can neither stand nor sit according to her position as a foreigner, an unprotected woman, and a laborer. Her life is, in fact, one of liminality. Meanwhile, her internal desire for prickly heat powder also returns to her version of the truth. She insisted earlier that the itchiness is due to mites, yet here, she confesses to herself that Mrs. Dalal might have been right.
Themes
Mrs. Dalal’s husband, Mr. Dalal, returns from work with the news that he has been promoted to manager and has purchased two new wash basins to celebrate. Mrs. Dalal is unimpressed: "What are we supposed to do with two basins in a two-room flat? [...] Who ever heard of it? I still cook on kerosene. You refuse to apply for a phone. And I have yet to see the fridge you promised when we married. You expect two basins to make up for all that?” Their argument lasts through the evening, and everyone listens in. Boori Ma finishes her next round of sweeping in silence and goes to sleep on a pile of newspaper.
Mrs. Dalal’s first emotion is not pleasure at her husband’s promotion but exasperation at his gesture. It points toward many years of frustration that have boiled over for Mrs. Dalal. The Dalals have no shame in arguing loudly enough for the entire building to hear. In the midst of the excitement, they forgotten Boori Ma’s new bedding, and she is left sleeping on newspaper once again.
Themes
Mr. Dalal decides to install the second basin in the landing of the building. The residents are thrilled, since “for years they had all brushed their teeth with stored water poured from mugs.” The workers spend all day installing it, “squatting” around the perimeter of the building on breaks. Mr. Dalal is pleased with his decision to put the basin in the landing, considering that “a sink in the stairwell is sure to impress visitors. Now that he was a company manager, who could say who would visit the building?” With all the comings and goings of the workers, Boori Ma is unable to get her work done and instead goes to the roof to tear her ruined quilts into strips so that she can polish the banister with them later.
Mr. Dalal’s inner monologue here signifies the shift from complacency to activity. Now that he has a higher status in his employment, he wants his home to reflect as much. As the story is about to reveal, this attitude will be contagious for the other residents. Like Boori Ma, the laborers who install the basin “squat” as she “crouched.” They are implied to be of the same caste, marginalized as workers in a divided society. That Boori Ma rips up her quilts is also significant, as she sacrifices her few belongings for the betterment of the building, suggesting that her life revolves around doing her job well.
Themes
When the basin is finally installed, Boori Ma laments that she once had bathwater scented with rose petals, adding, “Believe me, don’t believe me.” Admiring the basin, Mr. Chatterjee declares the basin “a sure sign of the changing times.” The other residents quickly turn jealous, resentful, and competitive. They spread rumors about Mr. Dalal and Mrs. Dalal, claiming that they are already being irresponsible and showy with their newfound wealth, which only get worse when the Dalals leave on vacation. Mrs. Dalal has not yet given Boori Ma new bedding, but she reassures Boori Ma she will get some while on vacation.
The enjoyment of the new convenience is short-lived, as jealousy takes over. This moment highlights the tensions already present among the residents. Good fortune for all is instead twisted into resentment, as one small upgrade has transformed the residents into would-be materialistic social climbers. The departure of Mr. and Mrs. Dalal is significant, Mrs. Dalal seems to be Boori Ma’s only true ally in the building.
Themes
With the Dalals out of the way for a while, the other wives begin plotting improvements to the building, too. Some pawn valuable items to raise the money. They sell wedding bracelets, silver bowls, and a sewing machine in exchange for a fresh coat of paint on the building and on the shutters, and a visit from the exterminator.
Mr. Dalal’s wash basins are a catalyst for change. The wives (significantly, not the “husbands” or “couples”) exchange valuable or priceless items in order to create a materialistic change in the eyes of their neighbors. The story implies that they don’t earn an income outside the home, so the wives’ only avenue to material improvement is selling the few valuables they have accumulated. Status becomes more important than keepsakes.
Themes
With so many workers about, Boori Ma retreats to the roof, continuing to sleep on newspapers with long days of monsoon rain stretched in front of her. Mr. Dalal and Mrs. Dalal are yet to return, and in “thinking neither of her hardships nor of earlier times, she wondered when the Dalals would return with her new bedding.” With her newfound free time, she begins walking through the city streets to soothe her sore body. On the day Boori Ma walks the farthest, slowly beginning to spend small amounts of her life savings on treats along the way, she feels a tug on the end of her sari—the skeleton keys to the building and the remainder of her life savings are both gone.
Boori Ma’s careful daily routine has been completely upended—no sweeping, no chats with Mrs. Dalal, no bedding, no neighborly visits. She is so exhausted from a lack of sleep that her only thought is of the new bedding. She has no other capacity to remember the past, only the relief that has been promised, and she is powerless to change her situation until the Dalals return. It’s significant that when Boori Ma’s keys and remaining money somehow disappear, she feels a pull on her sari—this suggests that someone stole the keys, but it’s also possible that the free end of her sari unknotted itself and the keys fell off.
Themes
When Boori Ma returns to the building, the residents are waiting for her angrily, as “baleful cries rang up and down the stairwell.” The communal wash basin has been stolen while she was away, and some residents begin pointing their fingers at Boori Ma, claiming that she must have informed the robbers of its existence and location. They carry her up to the roof and even deposit her “on one side of the clothesline and started screaming from the other.”
Before she even returns, the residents are already convinced of Boori Ma’s guilt. She immediately becomes the scapegoat, and her Otherness condemns her. This becomes physically manifested as she stands on the other side of the clothesline. Her private space now physically provides a border between “her” and “them.”
Themes
Boori Ma claims innocence, repeating, “Believe me, believe me,” but they've already decided her guilt. They claim she is a habitual liar and should no longer serve the building as their durwan, since the residents “have valuables,” and Mrs. Misra lives alone and has a telephone. Mr. Chatterjee gives the final verdict. After taking in the building’s improved appearance, he speaks: “Boori Ma’s mouth of full of ashes. But that is nothing new. What is new is the face of this building.” He declares that it is time to get a “real durwan.” The residents throw Boori Ma and her meager belongings down the stairs and into the alley. She leaves the building, with only her broom in hand, still uttering, “Believe me, believe me.”
The residents cite Mrs. Misra living alone with her telephone as one of the reasons why the building needs a “real durwan,” conveniently forgetting that she has lived alone with her telephone long before the flurry of improvements took place, and that Boori Ma was more than sufficient as a durwan. It’s also significant that Boori Ma’s usual phrase of “Believe me, don’t believe me” switches to “Believe me, believe me,” as it suggests that she really is telling the truth—the full truth—about the theft. Nonetheless, the residents rewrite the past, or their past impression of Boori Ma, to make her dismissal more convenient. They don’t even listen to her defense but rather warp the past of her embellished memories to justify their aims. They want to appear better in the eyes of others, and Boori Ma is collateral damage.
Themes
